Watching the first trailer for J.J. Abrams' new show Fringe, something clicked for me. The show really isn't an X-Files-esque show about FBI agents delving into weird conspiracies. Instead, it's really a show about a mad scientist — who happens to hang around with FBI agents. All the funnest parts of the clip involve electrodes and weird substances. Spoilers and a gallery, below the fold.

Here's a new official synopsis:

When an international flight lands at Boston's Logan Airport and the passengers and crew have all died grisly deaths, FBI Special Agent OLIVIA DUNHAM (newcomer Anna Torv) is called in to investigate. After her partner, Special Agent JOHN SCOTT (Mark Valley, "Boston Legal"), is nearly killed during the investigation, a desperate Olivia searches frantically for someone to help, leading her to DR. WALTER BISHOP (John Noble, "Lord of the Rings: Return of the King"), our generation's Einstein. There's only one catch: he's been institutionalized for the last 20 years, and the only way to question him requires pulling his estranged son PETER (Joshua Jackson, "Dawson's Creek") in to help.

Judging from the footage in here, it looks pretty close to the spoilers we posted a few months ago. Plane crash, weird skin-melty chemicals, evil corporation, mad scientist, bikini-clad mental voyage, etc. And does Joshua Jackson look just like Brian Austin Green from Sarah Connor Chronicles to anybody else? Also, when I saw Lance Reddick, I immediately thought, it's Abbadon! I guess I haven't seen enough of The Wire. In any case, Fringe may be a fun, silly ride — like Lost, except written by the Transformers/Star Trek guys instead of Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof.